Remember (way back at the beginning of the week?) when I blogged about my marvelous plans for the summer? Well, I've been through a week of summer now and have a MUCH BETTER IDEA of what things will look like! As I was thinking about this today, I came across this post about summer schooling.... it sums up my thoughts PERFECTLY!. The best quote from this post by Christy is:
This week we accomplished math, (On the math front, we spent each day learning about prime and composite numbers and making factor trees -- which my daughter declared were "very fun!" We also hammered the times tables each day and I think this was a good investment of our time.) piano practice, read aloud and swimming lessons each day. Guess what? THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME! I am the queen of never cutting myself slack, and I think I just set the bar way too high for the summer.
As I sat in the van and listened to a bit of my nine year old's synchronized swimming practice I could hear her teacher counting beats and giving instructions quite rapidly. I thought to myself, "This is a HUGE education right here - following directions, memorizing a routine, etc...". I need to let these activities be enough for us this summer.
We got together with good friends from our co-op one day for yogurt, and tomorrow we are meeting friends for Jumping Jelly Beans and lunch... these friends will be moving in 6 weeks and it's IMPORTANT to spend time with them. Sometimes I think I let the almighty "schedule" suck a lot of the fun out of our days.
The last two weeks of May we just vegged, and it felt so GOOD. I hadn't done that in a whole year. I still think we need some more time to relax and not be so formal about school. Could it be that I have underestimated the toll that homeschooling takes -- on my physical household and also on my mental stamina? I think the answer just might be YES.
